Gentle Hands
by Mrs. HopeEstheim
Summary: Her gentle hands were the first thing he noticed about her and also what he continued to notice. UkiUno. One-shot for Akai-Miko. My first attempt of this pairing!


**This is my first time writing this pairing. I don't know how I did - you guys can be the judge of _that_. Hahaha.**

**This is an UkiUno for Akai-Miko's _very_ late birthday present.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

_Gentle hands_.

It was what Jyuushiro had first noticed about her, aside from her rather unique braid. And her gentle hands is what he _continued_ to notice even after all the years that had passed in the vicious never-ending cycle of time. It didn't matter whether it was the first time a Soul Reaper was in the Fourth Division or the two thousandth time - she was still oh-so gentle. She had her moments of anger and moments where her sweet smile was positively frightening, but that didn't stop her from doing her job. Always with those same soft, gentle hands.

He could feel his entire body breaking out in a cold sweat. Already his hairline was drenched, droplets sliding down the back of his neck and leaving chilly streaks of perspiration in their wake. Jyuushiro Ukitake was persistent, though. He kept moving his pen across the stacks of papers, signing his name in a hand that was gradually growing shakier. To attempt to regain some of his composure, he laid the pen down and stretched his fingers slowly.

Jyuushiro pretended not to notice how badly he was trembling.

To get his mind off of this little spell, he closed his eyes for a moment and thought of her and only of her. Retsu Unohana, the genteel captain of the Fourth Division. Of course, she wouldn't be so genteel towards him now if she knew he was blatantly ignoring the signs of his illness. Retsu could really take charge of a situation, he pondered, and could get just about anyone to agree with her way of doing things. It just took a few words, a sweet smile - perhaps her menacingly sweet smile, depending on the person she was trying to cajole into agreement. And her eyes. The captain of the Fourth had such expressive eyes. Most of the time they had a tilt that implied sadness, but when one looked closer they could see that sadness wasn't all that was eating her.

She hated it when others got hurt.

They were brought in to her, bleeding, bloody, gasping, wheezing, coughing, bruised, or ill, and she and all of her division had to care for them. Only, when someone was brought in dead, there was nothing they could do. The Fourth could provide an autopsy, telling any relations or friends which of the blows dealt had killed the Soul Reaper or even whether it had been a poisoned talon that had done the trick. But the same thing happened year after year, decade after decade, and she had to put up with it all. Retsu Unohana, Jyuushiro had decided long ago, was a strong woman. She dealt with all of that and still found the strength to go on even after the devastating failures and the crushing losses. And despite hating to see others hurt, she did her best to heal, because if she healed them now they wouldn't be hurt anymore…not for a while, at least. Her gentle hands were a comfort to all of her patients - those that would survive and those that would succumb to their injuries alike.

Jyuushiro thought she might just be the strongest person in the entire Seireitei. Not just because she was a captain, but because of all the pain she endured whenever someone in her care was lost. But then he realized that he might just be acting a little cruel by ignoring the state of his illness. If he finally fell prey to his ailments because he was neglecting his health, she'd probably still blame herself somehow. And even when he thought this way, he couldn't bring himself to get up.

He was too weak.

His eyes snapped open in an instant, and he tried once more to force himself to his feet. He managed to stumble up, but crashed against his desk and fell right back into his chair, weaker than before. With a start, he realized that his breaths were coming out as wheezes, and then he coughed.

This was no good - he couldn't do this now. Black spots clouded his vision as he coughed four more times in quick succession. Each cough racked his body with painful jerks and made him dizzier by the second. There was only one thing left to do.

"K…Kiyone!"

The name that fell from his lips was weak at best, but he heard a chair fall over outside the office.

Before the small girl or even Sentaro could burst into the room, the door slammed open and there stood a taller brunette in a flowery pink haori. Even in his weakened state, Jyuushiro couldn't help but smile at the sight of his friend. Shunsui seemed to have a sensor that alerted him to when the white-haired captain was particularly ill.

"Shun…" Jyuushiro managed weakly. His vision was swimming and his friend's face was coming in and out of focus. To be completely fair with himself, he hadn't expected it to be this bad when he first decided to ignore the brief spell. He had expected it to last a few minutes to maybe an hour or two and just pass. It had done so before. And yet it didn't this time, and now the captain of the Thirteenth was regretting his decision.

He succumbed to another coughing fit and heard Shunsui come nearer.

"Jyuu!"

The large and callused hands of the brunette fell on the white-haired man's shoulders , keeping Jyuushiro from falling forward and hitting his head on the desk in front of him as the blackness fully encroached upon his vision.

"Captain Ukitake!"

* * *

The dark-haired woman sighed, brushing sweaty white strands of hair out of the unconscious man's face. The brunette in the doorway didn't miss the tender expression on her face or the unerring gentility in all of her actions as she reached up and adjusted the pillows beneath her patient's head.

"You know," Shunsui spoke up, startling the healer from her actions and causing her to whip her head in his direction. "You pronounced him stable two hours ago, Retsu."

Pink began to show on her cheeks, but the captain of the Fourth didn't lose her composure.

"With an episode like that last one, you never know if another one will immediately follow or not. I wanted to be safe."

The captain of the Eighth sighed and leaned against the doorframe, watching as she turned back to Jyuushiro and replaced the small towel on his forehead. Again she brushed a few sweaty strands out of Jyuushiro's face and then her hand lingered for a moment, a few slender fingers resting gently against his jaw.

"You should tell him, Retsu."

She made no sign of hearing him.

"You know you should."

Her hand stilled from where she had taken to smoothing out the sheets.

"You know he feels the same."

That finally did it. Retsu's hand balled into a fist on top of the sheets and she turned her head down. Her shoulders were trembling just slightly and Shunsui felt he might have taken it a little too far…but his two friends needed that push or else they'd always be chasing but never catching up. They'd been playing the oh-so subtle game of cat-and-mouse for more than a couple of centuries and he knew they had to be getting tired of it because _he was._

"I don't want to lose him," she said softly - so softly that Shunsui had to strain his ears to hear her words. "What if…"

"Don't," the captain of the Eighth didn't even let her finish. The thought had crossed his mind thousands of times and the inevitability of the thought made him feel worse and worse each time. He wouldn't have her thinking the same thing. "Don't think about things that way. Wouldn't you rather have some time with him now than to regret never trying later?"

"_Shunsui…"_

His laugh was weak and shaky. "I know how you feel, Retsu, but I know that I'd feel worse if I had never gotten to know him. And there's always hope for a cure. Don't give up."

The brunette had to leave before he, too, broke down and succumbed to the fears of losing his dearest friend. At least he had given Retsu some thinking to do and, by the looks of things, she'd taken his advice to heart. She hadn't met his eyes, but the trembling in her shoulders had slowed before he had left the room and he took it as a good sign. Maybe he could help the two of them find happiness even when he was having trouble getting through his precious Nanao's guards, and that was all that counted.

* * *

Jyuushiro felt cold.

He usually woke up feeling cold after one of his particularly vicious bouts of illness, but this time there was something different and he couldn't quite place it. He was cold, yes, but there were a few spots that felt decidedly warmer than the rest. There was a little warmth on his right side and his right hand, as well as warmth on the left side of his head that came and then receded. It took him a few moments to realize that his bed was dipped down where the warmth was. Someone was sitting next to him, then. And soon after that realization came the realization that fingers were threaded through his own, which would account for the warmth in his hand. The warmth on his head, however, eluded him and so he slowly opened his eyes. He blinked once…twice…three times before the angel above him came into focus.

She was running her fingers through his hair gently. That's where the warmth on the side of his head came from. Her touch was even more gentle than he could have imagined, and behind the usual sadness in her eyes he saw something new.

"Retsu…" he managed to say, and she seemed to sigh in relief, her hand squeezing his tightly. "Retsu…don't you have…other patients?"

"My division has things well under control," she responded, smiling softly at him. "Thankfully, injuries are rather low lately and most are not life-threatening, so I feel confident allowing Isane and the others to handle them."

"And where do I stand?" Jyuushiro laughed weakly as the healer felt his forehead - it felt as light as the lightest of touches, as if a butterfly had landed there briefly before taking flight once more.

Retsu, for her part, felt as if Jyuushiro wasn't just asking about where he stood among patients. He was subtly asking where he stood in her heart.

"I would allow no other to treat you," she replied softly, and he recognized the new expression in her eyes as tenderness. His heart felt suddenly lighter, and the weak captain of the Thirteenth was able to smile softly at her as he squeezed her hand back. Retsu brushed his hair back from his face once more before leaning forward to bestow a light kiss upon his forehead.

Jyuushiro closed his eyes and let himself relax. With a teasing sort of grin, he remarked, "Of course. I'm sure no one else has such gentle hands, and we couldn't have that."

To his surprise, the dark-haired captain pinched his ear and, when he cracked an eye open to observe her in shock, she was smiling just as teasingly as he. And his mischievous grin softened into a knowing smile as he let his eyelid once more slide down. He was exhausted and now that he knew that Retsu would be by his side when he woke, sleep came upon him.

Just before he drifted off, he felt her press another gentle kiss to his forehead and a smile turned up the corner of his mouth.

* * *

**And here it is. **

**I tried not to allude to anything in the anime or manga, mostly because I'm still back in the middle of the arrancar arc myself. Oops? Hahaha.**

**This was mostly intended to be light and a little fluffy, but with a bit of angstiness, but for a first time for these two, I don't think I did completely awful. I hope I didn't.**

**Thanks for reading!**


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